CHILES, George P., b 1844; 1905 Bio, Delta County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/delta/bios/chilesgp.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 11, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- George P. Chiles No diligent and earnest search into the arcana of nature has ever gone long unrewarded. She is prodigal of her gifts when properly besought although she may at times hold them at a high price of effort and importunity. When the first settlers in the region of Cory, Delta county, this state, stuck their stakes in the virgin soil, the question of what products it might be best adapted to was yet to be determined. By experiment and close observation, comparison of notes and scrutiny of results, it was soon learned that the region was well adapted to fruit-growing, and the rewards of those who have here turned their attention to this branch of husbandry have been fully commensurate with the outlay of labor and skill in the industry. Among the pioneers of the section and of fruit-culture in it as well, George P. Chiles is entitled to a high rank, both for the vigor and efficiency with which he has aided in developing the business and the success which has crowned his efforts. When he came to the neighborhood the family of James W. Snelson was the only one living there. The land was in its state of primeval nature, its tendencies were unknown, its possibilities unestimated and the means of cultivating it to the best advantage unavailable. He and others who came soon after him found, however, by earnest attention to the problem before them, in which the development of the section was involved, that the soil would respond generously in the culture of fruit trees, and they devoted their energies largely to the prosecution of this work. Of his ranch of one hundred and sixty acres this leader in the enterprise has thirty in trees of choice varieties, and each year he reaps large harvests from their prolific vigor. Mr. Chiles also has fifty acres in alfalfa and the remainder of his ranch is given up to general farm products. The revenue from his orchard averages nearly three thousand dollars a year, and his hay crops net him about twenty dollars an acre. Mr. Chiles is a native of Kentucky, born at Paris on August 1, 1844, and the son of Henry C. and Maria (Wilson) Chiles, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Kentucky. The latter died when her son George was but ten weeks old. His father was a merchant and farmer. He moved to Missouri in 1858, and located at Lexington, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying in 1898. At the beginning of the war with Mexico he raised a regiment of volunteers for the service, but being unable to take the field with it himself, he turned the command over to his brother, but he was known ever afterward as Colonel Chiles. He was prominent in public affairs, serving as a member of the legislature and filling other offices of importance and responsibility. His son George received a common-school education and was trained to habits of useful industry. In January, 1862, he enlisted in defense of the Union for the Civil war in Company A, Seventh Missouri Cavalry, in which he served to the end of the war. Although not in many of the greatest battles of the war, he received five wounds in conflict, and was obliged to pass three months at one time in the hospital. He left the service as a second lieutenant, and proceeding to Warsaw, Missouri, started a grocery business which he carried on until 1868. He then sold out at Warsaw and moved to Joplin, in the same state where he farmed until 1874. In that year he came to Colorado and, settling at Lake City, engaged in mining. In 1876 and the following year he was elected marshal of Lake City and collected the city taxes. In 1880 he was again elected to this office, in the meantime being busily occupied in mining. While living at this place he and three other men founded the town of Pitkin, to which he devoted considerable attention until 1885, when he left the section and located the ranch which is now his home. His mining ventures were successful and profitable, and he still owns mining property of value in the neighborhood of Lake City. His ranch is about one mile from the post office of Cory. Since settling on it he has given its development his whole attention and has one of the best and most productive orchards in the county, while his other ranching interests are correspondingly flourishing. On February 9, 1864, he united in marriage with Miss Jennie Taylor, born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of William and Eliza (Earp), the father a native of Indiana and the mother of North Carolina. The latter died in 1860 and the former in 1869. There were seven children in the family and three are living. Mr. and Mrs. Chiles have two children, Henry W. and Clara B. Both are married and residing in Colorado, one at Denver and the other at Delta. The father is a member of the Washington Society and the Grand Army of the Republic. He and his wife belong to the Christian church. In politics he is a Populist. The local affairs of the county have enlisted his warmest interest. He served six years as county commissioner and has rendered valuable service to the people in various other capacities. In 1903 he attended the grand encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in California and at the same time made a trip over most of the state. He drove the first team of horses ever seen in the Plateau valley into the section in 1883. On the trip his party saw seven hundred deer and many other very interesting sights. They passed through the valley looking for a location to settle in, and on reaching Grand Junction, where they hoped to remain, they were not pleased with the outlook, and returned to Lake City. The Junction was then a rude and uncomely hamlet with but feeble signs of life and to their view gave almost no promise of its subsequent growth and progress. They therefore returned to Lake City, where Mr. Chiles remained until 1885. Always an experimenter in any line-of-thought or action which interested him, he has in his orchard a few soft shell almond and some English walnut trees, and they are rewarding his hopes with abundant success in growth and fruitfulness. In 1898 he raised the largest apple ever grown in Colorado. It measured nine inches in diameter and twenty-seven in circumference, and took the first prize at the Delta county fair. With a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of his portion of the state and its industries, he has omitted no effort on his part needed for their promotion. For several years he has been president of the Delta County Fruit-Growers' Association, and is at this writing (1904) one of its largest stockholders. Through the medium of this body he has aided in pushing the development of fruit culture in the county to proportions of great magnitude and value. Among the leading and most representative citizens of the county he is always named and by its people he is universally esteemed. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.